PRIME MINISTER:
Australia's heartfelt sympathy and resolute solidarity is with the people of the United Kingdom with whom we stand today as we always have in freedoms cause. Staunch allies in the war against terrorism.
The attack on the British Parliament is an attack on parliaments, freedom and democracy everywhere.
Westminster is rightly known as the mother of parliaments.
Almost every element of our parliamentary tradition here in Australia is modelled on that of the Houses of Parliament in London - the birthplace of our great, free, parliamentary democracy and the rule of law which sustains it.
We send our condolences, especially to the families of the victims, those injured, including a police officer murdered by the terrorist as he attempted to enter the Houses of Parliament.
It is a reminder of the risk that our security agencies, our police forces, or intelligence services, and the men and women of the Australian ADF, the risk to their lives and safety that they take on as they defend us every day.
We owe them our deepest gratitude every day for their service in keeping us secure.
The Metropolitan Police in London have confirmed that they are treating it as a terrorist attack.
We have conveyed our condolences to the British Government through the Ambassador and the High Commissioner.
I have received briefings this morning on the attack from our Counter-Terrorism Coordinator, Tony Sheehan, the High Commissioner in London, Alexander Downer, the Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin and the Director General of Security, Duncan Lewis.
The AFP Commissioner has confirmed there will be an increase in police presence in Parliament House here in Canberra today.
But Australians should be reassured that our agencies are today, as every day, working relentlessly to keep Australians safe.
We are very alert to the vulnerabilities of places of mass gathering and the risk of lone attackers, like the perpetrator, the terrorist in London.
Keeping Australians safe is our highest priority. It is the first duty of my government, and, indeed, every government.
We have, since September 2014, disrupted 12 planned attacks and there have been 62 persons charges with terrorist-related offences since then. We have strengthened our counter terrorism and national security laws to ensure our agencies have the powers they need, our soldiers have the ability to kill the terrorists in the field, whatever their role, and that convicted terrorists will not be released at the end of their sentence if they remain a threat to society.
We work very, very closely indeed with our allies, including the United Kingdom and the United States and many other partners around the world.
But we must be clear-eyed about the risk. It is real and that is why the threat, the terror threat level is set at probable.
But we will never, ever let the terrorists win. We will defeat and destroy them on the battlefield, we will defeat and defy them at home. We will never change the way we live. We will never let them divide us. We will never let them intimidate us or challenge our democratic way of life or the freedoms for which generations of Australians have served and died to keep secure.
The challenge that we face here in Australia is, as I said, a very real one. But, we have the finest security agencies in the world. Our police, our intelligence services, our defence forces are the best in the world.
We are never complacent. We are constantly alert. Every day, every night, keeping Australians safe.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, have you spoken to Theresa May overnight or this morning and what did she and you say?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I have not spoken to her yet. I look forward to doing so. She is chairing a meeting of the COBRA Committee of Cabinet at the moment.
JOURNALIST:
Any update, Prime Minister, on whether any Australians are involved?
PRIME MINISTER:
The information as you have heard from the Foreign Minister and the information I just received from Alexander Downer is that at this stage we are not aware of any Australians being injured in the attack.
As you know, we understand there were two persons killed by the terrorist on Westminster Bridge when he ran a car into a group of people. He, of course, he killed the police officer as he attempted to enter the parliament and he was subsequently shot dead.
We understand that there are about 20 people who have been injured, some with very serious injuries indeed. We understand some French students were injured in the attack.
This is an assault on every democracy, every parliament, every free nation. We condemn it and we stand in absolutely resolute solidarity with the people of Britain.
JOURNALIST:
The increased police presence in here today, is that for any particular reason or is that just an abundance of caution? And secondly do you foresee that Australian travel advice for the UK could be changed on the back of this?
PRIME MINISTER:
As I said earlier the Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin has confirmed there will be increased police presence today. That is an appropriate response. It indicates the degree, the care and the caution that is taken by our security agencies in keeping us safe. We will continue to monitor the situation very closely.
The intelligence and security relationship between Australia and the United Kingdom is extremely close. It is utterly intimate in terms of the way we work together, the way we share intelligence. Our agencies have been in touch with their counterparts in London overnight and will continue to work very closely together.
Thank you all very much.
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